Challenges: The project addresses challenges in crisis preparedness by tackling issues in food transportation, logistics, market access, and supply chains in the remote Aurora programme area. Characterized by long distances and low population density, the area also requires job creation to strengthen regional vitality.
Objective: Cross-border collaboration enables shared logistics, wider market access, and joint initiatives such as regional food labels. It also supports knowledge exchange, storytelling, and cultural learning. Additional benefits include coordinated responses to climate impacts, biodiversity conservation, and the development of policy tools to promote traditional foods at the Nordic, Arctic, and EU levels.
By reducing fragmentation and duplication, cooperation enhances overall impact. The project will strengthen the competitiveness of MSMEs by supporting value chains, fostering knowledge exchange, and promoting contributions to health, biodiversity, and the circular economy. It also aims to revitalize traditional food practices, engage youth, and advance food sovereignty in the Aurora programme area.
The overall objective of the project is to support knowledge exchange, co-innovation, and market development among small-scale traditional food producers, communities, and food entrepreneurs, with a focus on environmental stewardship and resilience to climate change and crisis management. At the end of the project, the specific objectives that TRAIL will achieve are:
1) Empower Indigenous and traditional food MSMEs through cross-border innovation and cooperation
2) Support MSME Competitiveness by strengthening traditional food entrepreneurship and their market access
3) Preserve and transmit Indigenous food knowledge to younger generations across the Aurora programme area and beyond
4) Increase the readiness of consumers backed with relevant policies to support the value of traditional/indigenous foods for nutrition, culture, and the environment in times of crisis.
Solution: WP1 maps traditional food ecosystems for SMEs to better understand stakeholder perspectives and involve them in decision-making processes that support sustainable and long-term development activities. WP2 focuses on increasing awareness of the nutritional, health, and environmental benefits of traditional foods in the Arctic/Aurora programme area through accessible knowledge sharing, innovation platforms, and networking among food sector actors.
WP3 preserves and promotes Indigenous and traditional food knowledge while strengthening youth engagement and food sovereignty through storytelling, digital media, intergenerational learning, food heritage events, and community-based initiatives in Finland and Sweden. WP4 integrates project findings into regional and national policy discussions by developing policy recommendations, best-practice guidelines, and collaboration with policymakers and Indigenous stakeholders to strengthen food security, crisis preparedness, resilience, and sustainable food governance in the Aurora programme area.
Led by the Kerttu Saalasti Institute of Oulu University, Finland
Contact: Project Leader Dr. Nafisa Yeasmin, University of Oulu, nafisa.yeasmin@oulu.fi
